1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to home and office building construction and more specifically to tools that aid in installing demountable-wall clips on wallboard panels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Until the middle of this century walls in home and office buildings were constructed of horizontal strips of lathe board that were nailed to vertical wood studs and then plastered. Such construction was expensive and labor intensive, as it required skilled workers to for proper performance. A less expensive method then replaced the earlier plaster-and-lathe board method. This included use of unitary panels, e.g., gypsum.
Gypsum panels are of various sizes, typically four by eight feet in length and covered by cardboard paper. A worker can cut the panels to size with a knife and then nail the cut panel directly to the wooden studs. The gaps between panels are bridged by a paper tape and a wall-board compound ("mud") is applied to smooth out the surface about the tape and dents caused by nailing. The wall may then be painted.
The plaster-and-lathe and gypsum panel construction methods both result in permanent wall structures. Some building constructions, especially interior office building areas, need temporary walls that can be moved, re-configured and adjusted without an excessive waste of the materials or labor.
Demountable-wallboards, which comprise flat sheets of gypsum encased in vinyl or fabric coverings, are each held in place by several edge clips to a gridwork of vertical H-studs that receive the clips. Each vertical edge of a panel has installed clips about eight inches apart that snap into a corresponding lip on an adjacent H-stud. The clips are typically supplied in bulk and a worker spills out a quantity of clips on a stack of panels to prepare for attachment. Clips are picked up and handled one at a time. A clip is picked up by a craftsman and positioned along a panel edge where, by use of a mallet, the craftsman drives the barbs on the clip into the panel.
Unfortunately, the mallet blows are not always square, and some deformity of the clip frequently results. Improperly installed clips can also weaken the gypsum in the panel and too loose a grip on the clip can degrade the strength of the installed panel. Deformed clips result in waste, both during the initial installation and later when the damaged clip cannot be re-used.